Scraping through in boots and bites

A last-ditch drop goal, controversial try, two alleged biting incidents, a new anthem and hits hard enough to loosen fillings. Toronto Wolfpack fans got to see a bit of everything Saturday.

When the dust settled, Gareth O’Brien’s drop goal in the 77th minute was the difference in a tense 13-12 rugby league win against Toulouse Olympique before 7,923 sun-baked spectators at Lamport Stadium.

Tied 8-8 at the break, Toronto went ahead early in the second half on a Chase Stanley try and then absorbed Toulouse pressure until a Stan Robin try in the 71st minute made it 12-12. William Barthau missed the conversion, setting the stage for O’Brien’s dramatic boot.

While savouring the win, Toronto coach Paul Rowley said his team made things more difficult for itself by letting the visitors off the hook by making unforced errors in the second half.

“The ability to turn the screw at vital times in the game is important. We’ll need to do that going forward,” Rowley said. “But ultimately (the playoffs) are about winning games and it’s another game won.”

Toronto (3-2-0) stands fourth in the Super 8s Qualifiers with two games left, on track for promotion to the Super League.

The Super 8s Qualifiers group the bottom four Super League sides (Leeds Rhinos, Hull KR, Salford Red Devils and Widnes) with the top four Betfred Championship teams (Toronto, London, Toulouse and Halifax RLFC).

After a round-robin, the top three secure Super League status while No. 4 plays No. 5 in the so-called “Million Pound Game” to see who joins them.

Salford leads Leeds and Hull KR, all 4-1-0, on point difference with Toronto fourth and Toulouse (2-3-0) fifth. London (23-0) is sixth ahead of Widnes (1-4-0) and Halifax (0-5-0).

Toronto, which is 0-4-0 alltime against Super League sides, hosts Widnes next weekend before finishing at Leeds.

“We need to beat all the Championship teams,” said Rowley. “So we’ve done that now. That was the minimum requirement for us. We need to now to try and knock off one of the Super League teams as well. … We’re excited for the next challenge now.”

Saturday marked another first for the transatlantic Wolfpack as La Marseillaise rang out before the game for the first visit by a French team. Mason Caton-Brown and Nick Rawsthorne also scored tries for Toronto. A TV replay showed that a diving CatonBrown had lost contact with the ball before touching it down but, with no video replay available to referee Tom Grant, the try was awarded.

Paul Marcon also scored a try for Toulouse, which saw Robin sin-binned in the first half for a professional foul (delay of game) and dissent. Mark Kheirallah kicked two penalties for the visitors.

“I’m gutted,” said Toulouse coach Sylvain Houles, unhappy at the turn of events. “I don’t think our boys deserved that.”

An irate Toulouse centre Bastien Ader got up from a 12thminute tackle by Jack Bussey complaining of a bite to the ear. Midway through the second half, it was Bussey’s turn to allege he had been bitten.

“There were some dirty tactics ... and the referee didn’t do anything about it,” said an angry Houles.

Bussey was not made available to reporters after the game.